Statin initiation is unrelated to cardiovascular risk score, finds study

General practices in England and Wales start patients on statins seemingly haphazardly, often without documented evidence that their cardiovascular risks have been properly assessed, a study of 248 practices has shown.

GPs are recommended by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to use the QRISK2 score to help decide whether patients should be started on statins. But only around a quarter of patients who began taking the drugs after 2012, when this recommendation was made, have a QRISK2 score documented in their patient record. And of those who do have a score recorded, only 35% of those with a high score were actually started on statins, found Samuel Finnikin and colleagues …